Road To Nowhere
by HarryPotterFan120
Summary: "Magic makes you a plague to mankind." That's one of the lessons that they taught her. Abused and scared, Elizabeth Grace is an ten year old orphan living with abusive foster parents who taught her that her magic makes her an revolting, disguising abomination. Despite believing this, she is forced to question everything they taught her. ONE-SHOT


Elizabeth Grace's POV

For roughly two years, the Saunders' way of disciplining me was to beat the living daylights out of me.

Forget to clean the kitchen?

 _Kick_

Break a glass?

 _Slap_

Forget to make breakfast?

 _Punch_

Answer back with attitude?

Well, you get the idea. If people knew that they were abusing me, they would say that they are cruel, abusive and vindictive, that they shouldn't be discipling me with force, that they shouldn't be inflicting pain on their children but I never thought that even from a young age. A parent's job is to protect their child from the outside world and prepare them from the hardships that they might face and that's exactly what the Saunders are doing, they are preparing me to survive in the real world and deal with the challenges that I might face. Sure, it wasn't how most people preferred to discipline their children.

 _Your magic makes you vulnerable to attack, it makes you an outcast in society, it makes you a plague to mankind and an filthy, revolting abomination that will be treated like dirt._

That was a lesson that Mr Saunders taught me when I was nine years old, when he discovered that I was a witch. From an early age, I accepted this lesson and never questioned it because I knew that even though this is a beautiful, magical world that we live in, there are still foul, obnoxious people roaming the streets who would force me to use my magic for my own personal gain or harm me because of it. My mother had died when I was five because of her magic. Her magic caused her downfall. Her magic was the reason why she isn't tucking me into bed at night or stroking my hair or nursing me when I was ill or greeting me with a thousand hugs and kisses in the morning.

Knowing that, I refused to use my magic at all and I never questioned my decision and never looked back.

Until I met Aoife.

Immediately, I knew that there was something different about her. She wasn't like all of the other girls who were convinced that I was the plague and distanced themselves from me. Aoife tried persuading me to use my magic but I refused and started to distance myself from her refusing to be left alone with her in the same room and put up walls between us. It was easy for me to put up walls between us because I had been doing it for years and I had them to fall back on.

But Aoife… she was really different from all the other muggle girls that I tried to befriend. Instead of destroying my walls with my bare hands, she tried to make me pull them down myself and each day I succumbed to her persistence and began to remove bricks until there was none left and I was left vulnerable.

"Hey Beth." Aoife said, approaching me. "Why were you late for school today?"

"I woke up late." I lied. "I forgot to set my alarm clock."

"Oka- what the hell are those?" Aoife shrieked, pointing to my arm. I had forgotten that I rolled up my sleeves ten minutes before she arrived. I gazed at her to find her fixated on my sore purple scars that scarred my arms.

I pulled down the sleeve concealing my sore purple scar from her. "Its nothing, Aoife."

"It doesn't look like nothing, Beth." Aoife said, adamant. "Take off your blazer now, Beth."

"Aoife-"

Aoife shot me a look of frustration, curiosity and fear which silenced me immediately. I have never seen Aoife like this, close to tears, she was always the tough, bubbly and loyal but seeing my violent scars had petrified her to her core. Knowing that there was no way out of this, I gently took my blazer off and flung it on the ground leaving my scarred arms completely exposed and dangling at its sides.

Aoife gasped in horror and shock covering her mouth with her left hand as she sobbed and shook uncontrollably like she was having a seizure. Finally, after many moments of awkward silence, she spoke quietly. "Beth, where did you get there scars from?"

"Aoife, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." I replied, pulling her into a hug.

"You'd be surprised what I believe. If I was an idiot and you told me that dragons exist, I'll probably believe you."

I pulled away to retrieve my blazer from the floor. "Dragons did it, Aoife."

"That's not funny, Beth." Aoife said, unamused. "I am not an idiot."

"You're right." I replied, unabashed. "We shouldn't be making fun of dragons. They'll probably kill us."

Aoife rolled her eyes. "Where did you get there scars from, Beth."

"Look, you cannot tell anybody." I replied, taking a deep breath. "My foster parents discipline me in the only way that they know how."

Aoife's jaw dropped. "Your foster parents did that to you, Beth."

I simply nodded.

Aoife replied. "I can't believe that you have been going through all of this on your own and I didn't even realise."

"Go through what?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow. "They are being responsible parents and disciplining me."

"It's child abuse, Beth." Aoife argued, folding her arms. "And it cannot continue. You are just a child."

"I am not a child!"

"Well, you might not think so but according to the law, you are a child, Beth."

"I am not a child, Aoife."

"Okay if you say so." Aoife replied, shaking her head in disbelief. "But what I don't understand is why you don't use magic anymore."

I started. "That's one of the lessons-"

"Lessons?" Aoife asked me. "What do you mean by lessons?"

"It is one of the things that they taught me, Aoife." I replied, innocently. "They taught me that magic makes you vulnerable to attack, it makes you an outcast in society, it makes you a plague to mankind and an filthy, revolting abomination that will be treated like dirt."

"Beth, you are delusional-"

"I am not delusional, Aoife."

"You cannot actually believe that about being a witch!"

"I do, actually." I replied, defensively. "How many witches and wizards that you know are accepted in society?"

"None, but that doesn't mean that you cannot be different."

"Even you don't believe that, Aoife. Look at our history with muggles, witches have been burnt at the stake, tortured and drowned."

"We cannot change the past but we can make a good change in the future. You have got to tell somebody, Beth."

"No." I replied, terrified. "I don't want to go back into care. You cannot say anything to anybody."

"Beth, you are my best friend and you know that I love you and that I will do anything for you but I cannot keep this secret."

"Please." I begged her. "Do this one simple thing for me."

"You cannot put me in this position on me. My best friend is being abused at home and your foster family are taking out their frustration in you, Beth. I cannot keep this secret."

"Please, Aoife." I replied, moving closer to her. "I just want to be normal."

"Beth, this isn't normal. It can't be normal for you to be abused every time that your forte parents want you to learn something."

"They aren't abusing me, Aoife."

"Yes they are. They are taking advantage of you. They know how your parents died and they are using that to make sure that you never use magic again."

"No they aren't." I replied.

"Beth, it isn't normal for you to reject your magic the way that you do. You cannot even see what they are doing, Beth."

"That's because they aren't doing anything" I yelled at her. "You are wrong, Aoife."

"What?"

"My magic is revolting and disgusting and something that should be controlled and ignored. My magic is a plague."

"Beth, you magic is not revolting or disgusting but something to be embraced. You have such an amazing gift and you shouldn't be ashamed."

Suddenly, Miss Fitzpatrick came to see what all the shouting was about. "Ladies, luncheon is over. You are ten minutes late for your lesson."

"Sorry, Miss Fitzpatrick." We replied in unison.

Before Aoife left, she tossed me a glare and walked off. Aoife didn't even realise that a fierce battle was raging inside her brain:

 _Magic is revolting._

 _No, we should embrace it._

 _Magic makes you weak._

 _But magic makes you stronger._

 _It is unnatural._

 _No it isn't._

 _It is against the laws of nature._

 _No magic isn't._

 _Magical makes you an outcast in the muggle world._

 _But magic belongs in the wizarding world._

Regretting my foster parents way of teaching, I find saw the writing on the wall.

 _Magic isn't revolting or disgusting but something that should be embraced._


End file.
